Once again this year I plan to host a livestream of the VCA videos. I will only be streaming the Semi-finalists and Finalists. Due to the sheer number of videos available for nominations there just isn't enough time to really go through all of those. The schedule of viewing will be based on the VCA schedule, so the stream will be going on while each voting phase is happening. Like last year, I will split the categories up into sets of 5 (except the last day which will only be 4) of each category that you nominate videos rather then members. As the VCA schedule this year puts us on a Sat-Fri schedule for voting, and to allow 1 day for me to obtain all videos and setup the playlists and 1 day for everyone to put in their final votes after the streams are done, I will begin the streams on Sunday and go through Thurs.

All are welcome to join in and watch the videos during this time. It's a great way to see every video for those who haven't seen them yet as well as a chance to chat and enjoy the company of fellow viewers and discuss things about each video in the process. I had a blast last year hosting this.

Each stream will start at 8pm EDT (12am GMT/UTC the next day) and go until that night's list of videos is finished. Based on last years info, there were 20 videos in each category for the Semi's and 5 in the Finals. With 5 categories each night, the average playtime wound up be aprox 6 hours, except for the last night with the MEPs, which went much longer. Knowing that not everyone will be available during these hours once the stream finishes I will turn on auto-pilot with the recorded version of that night's stream and let that repeat until the next stream begins. The actual scheduled dates and which categories will play on those dates can be found below. I can't give accurate times for when each category will begin as video lengths vary, but based on an average of 3 min per video, at 20 videos, a category will take aprox 60 mins to play through, give or take 20 more mins generally.

I have an FAQ section below the stream schedule. If you have a question that isn't answered there feel free to ask and I'll try my best to give you a good answer.

[Semis: March 20th 8pm EDT or March 21st 12am GMT][Finals: March 27th 8pm EDT or March 28th 12am GMT]Best Trailer or CommercialBest Use of Instrumental MusicBest Use of Lip SynchBest Use of Multiple AnimeBest Use of Special Effects

[Semis: March 21st 8pm EDT or March 22nd 12am GMT][Finals: March 28th 8pm EDT or March 29th 12am GMT]Most Artistic VideoMost Original VideoVideo of the YearBest Multi-Editor Project

[Finals: March 29th 8pm EDT or March 30th 12am GMT]Nate's picks for the VCA Finals

FAQs:

In what order will you be playing the videos?Alphabetically by category. So we start with the first category based on the ABC sort and then the first video based on the ABC sort.

How will you be sorting these videos? What is the key you will sort by?Videos will be sorted by video title. This should hopefully keep 2 videos by the same editor from playing back-to-back.

How do we know what each video is when it plays?I'm looking into multiple options right now. I will try to setup a file name overlay in the video feed that will show for the first min of a video. Conversely I also plan to have the playback system update either the twiamvs IRC channel of each title or have the current playing title appear on the twiamvs website.

How are you going to name each video so we know what to vote for?As the org doesn't rename videos, and many editors name their uploads in odd ways, videos will be re-named according to the following naming scheme: [category] Editor - Video Title . ext

If a video is in multiple categories in a night, will that video only be played once to save on time and sanity?No. Each category will be played in it's entirety. So if a video is in all 5 categories for a night it will be played 5 times that night, wherever it lands in the alphabetical order of each category as they play.

Last edited by ngsilver on Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:00 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Just an update on the times for everyone. I didn't realize DST was starting this weekend, so I have updated the streaming times to reflect this change. For those who observe Daylight Savings Time, then the time will be the 'same', at 8PM. But for those who don't, it will start 1 hour earlier.

So just keep this in mind: Each stream will start at 8pm EDT (12am GMT/UTC the next day) and go until that night's list of videos is finished.

Sorry about the time change ya'll. My bad for forgetting about stupid DST.

Alright, tonight's stream has been completed. Anyone who missed it can still watch the replay on the sites linked previously. Tonight's stream will continue to play constantly until the next stream begins.

Just a note, due to the possibility for a change in lineup in the Semi's, the schedule may change slightly to reflect the decision made by the admins. So stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I will continue to stream using the current VCA Semi lists in the schedule posted above.

And with that tonight's stream has been completed. Anyone who missed it can still watch the replay on the sites linked previously. Tonight's stream will continue to play constantly until the next stream begins.

It seems there was an issue last night with recording the 2nd half of the stream so sadly the replay of the whole stream from last night is not possible. I'll hopefully not have this issue tonight. Sorry about that.

Seems that despite having the recording of the first half of last nights stream ready when I started the 2nd half, livestream 'lost' it by the time the 2nd half completed. So once again sorry Bout not having a replay of last nights stream ready. Seems my account is going over the space limit even after I removed a ton of old recordings.

We shouldn't have these issues during the finals as each stream will be considerably shorter.

Also, a note for tonight's stream. It will be in 2 parts. The first part will be the remaining categories not including meps. The last part will be just meps. Due to the length of many meps the stream could last a very long time. So I will probably go to sleep leaving the stream running on repeat of the mep section all night. Just a heads up.

I've updated the schedule to reflect the recent changes. We'll be restarting the semi's tomorrow with the new list of entries.

Due to the technical difficulties experienced this past week with the saving of recordings of the stream I cannot guarantee that there will be saved streams for you to access at your leisure, rather I will be playing the stream non-stop until the next stream begins.

Since people have been asking, here is the playlist of part 1 videos. To find out which video is next just find the current video and there ya go! This will help for those of you watching the repeat streams as well.